Sanford Liebesman and Paul C. Palmes address the question: Can you really
apply ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 “management tools” to mitigate
risk from SOX? In this third part of a series, they write that the Otter
Tail Corp. is validating an approach to SOX compliance that relies in
part on its ISO 9001-conforming QMS, a validation that makes clear that
effective auditing is one of several tools critical to both QMS conformity
and SOX compliance. Liebesman and Palmes demonstrate why management system
managers and auditors must communicate with Top Management so as to gain
management’s understanding of and support for the use of the QMS
or EMS to help assure SOX compliance.